Challenge: Build a PS3 beater for PS3 money!

danbroad

danbroad

danbroad

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Joined
30 Sep 2007
Posts
75
Hi folks, longtime lurker....

for various reasons I'm now Apple [mainly Logic and work compatibility] which actually ain't half bad.. [no flames, please!] But I'm a PC FPS gamer at heart, and my last PC ran Geil Ram and an X850XT before I sold it over a year ago. I had planned that the Mac would replace my audio/office applications [which it has nicely] but that I'd replace the gaming side with a console.

You've heard it all before, but frankly I prefer PC FPS games [I'd love Bioshock, Halo2, Gears, Stalker, Crysis and a replay of FarCry and HL2 etc..] and mouse control. So, then, here's my challenge:

Right now [October 2007], using the OcUK components, can you build a computer [I have a monitor and an HDTV] which would allow me to play my sort of FPS games in graphical goodness? And here's the rub; it mustn't cost more than, say, £460-ish, which is the cost of a PS3 and a splitfish controller!

I'll have the first go, because this is what I may buy on Friday:

AMD Athlon X2 4200+
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI GFX
Asus M2N4-SLI (Socket AM2) Motherboard
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz DDR2
Western Digital 80GB SATA-II 8MB Cache HDD
Pioneer DVR-212D 18x18 DVD±RW Serial ATA
Akasa AK-ZEN-01-BK Zen Black Case
OcUK Huntkey 450W PSU
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic ..........£499 [slightly over budget]

Now I figure that's a pretty tasty DX10 setup, and the case/PSU/HDD/DVD and the RAM are pretty much sorted for whatever system.

Is this good enough? Or would you stick with a cheaper X1950 for now? Or an HD 2600GT?

Any experienced thoughts most welcome. Best wishes, Dan!
 
I have a 19" monitor from my PC days, so probably as high as it will allow, which is probably 1280/1024 or the next one up [can't check right now...]. As for the TV, it's HDMI but not trueHD 1080p.

I'd like all games at max AA/AF, but then we all would, so I'm open to thoughts...

Thanks for the interest
 
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail OcUK GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB GDDR3 HDTV/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £151.99
(£178.59) £151.99
(£178.59)
LiteON DH-16D2P-02C 16x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM LiteON DH-16D2P-02C 16x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £8.99
(£10.56) £8.99
(£10.56)
Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A32728) Hitachi Deskstar 7K160 160GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A32728) £26.99
(£31.71) £26.99
(£31.71)
GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300C4 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) GeIL 2GB (2x1GB) PC5300C4 667MHz Value DDR2 Dual Channel Kit (GX22GB5300DC) £34.99
(£41.11) £34.99
(£41.11)
Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard - OEM Gigabyte GA_P35C_DS3R (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 & DDR3 Motherboard - OEM £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74)
Akasa AK-ZEN-01-BK Zen Black Case - No PSU Akasa AK-ZEN-01-BK Zen Black Case - No PSU £26.99
(£31.71) £26.99
(£31.71)
Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £37.99
(£44.64) £37.99
(£44.64)
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic 32-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66G-00576) Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic 32-Bit Edition DVD - OEM - 1Pk (66G-00576) £47.99
(£56.39) £47.99
(£56.39)
OcUK Huntkey 450W PSU OcUK Huntkey 450W PSU £27.99
(£32.89) £27.99
(£32.89)
Sub Total : £413.91
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95
VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £74.35
Total : £499.21

£499 including delivery...however, I personally would stick with the X1950 for now, as the 8800gts wont cut it in a couple of years-if you will have to upgrade anyway, you may as well take the cheaper one. That cuts the price down to about £400 for a darn nice PC!

And if you are worried about the OEM mobo (which was a bit cheeky of me) go for the Evga 650i. Still a nice mobo, and the same price as the Gigabyte above.
 
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Or there is the 2900 which is cheaper then the GTS now... depending on which one you buy. + a small overclock... and you can reach decent speeds.
 
^^ That's true, nice thought!
I would still go for the X1950 though, then upgrade to one of the new range sometime next year.
 
Never skimp on a power supply. Not unless you want instability and want to buy a new one when you figure the current one aint good enough.

600W OCZ as a minimum.
 
I'd go the intel route and if your budget allows it a motherboard to overclock with. As tbz_ck said, get a decent power supply (i.e. ocz, corsair, akasa).
 
Here's my recommendations:

Your basket

Product Name Qty Price Line Total Akasa AK-ZEN-01-BK Zen Black Case - No PSU £26.99
(£31.71) £26.99
(£31.71) OCZ StealthXStream 600w Silent SLI Ready ATX2 Power Supply £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74) EVGA nForce 650i Ultra (Socket 775) PCI-Express DDR2 Motherboard (122-CK-NF66-T1) £49.99
(£58.74) £49.99
(£58.74) Intel Core 2 Duo E2140 "LGA775 Conroe" 1.60GHz (800FSB) - Retail £37.99
(£44.64) £37.99
(£44.64) HIS ATI Radeon HD 2900 Pro SILENT Heatpipe 512MB GDDR3 VIVO TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail £149.99
(£176.24) £149.99
(£176.24) Samsung SH-S203BEBN 20x20 DVD±RW Dual Layer Serial ATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £16.99
(£19.96) £16.99
(£19.96) Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 250GB SATA-II 8MB Cache - OEM (0A33423) £33.99
(£39.94) £33.99
(£39.94) OCZ 2GB (2 x 1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK) £36.99
(£43.46) £36.99
(£43.46) Sub Total : £402.92 Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
City Link Parcel Next Day (Delivered Mon-Fri)
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £10.95 VAT is being charged at 17.5% VAT : £72.43 Total : £486.30




What I would say about this is that I might be tempted to downgrade the graphics card and get a better motherboard. I bought a EVGA 650i for my dad and it had a real problem with an old IDE drive and IDE DVD-ROM. In the end I upgraded my IDE DVD writer to SATA and gave him my newish IDE DVD writer to sort that bit, and plugged his old HDD into an external enclosure to copy his old stuff to his new disk. Also the documentation on the EVGA 650i is severely out of date (e.g it saysi ti has an 8 pin power connector, but they changed it to a 4 pin one. There are a couple of undocumented headers on the board too).

That said now its sorted it works fine !!
 
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All consoles are heavily subsidized, Sony makes their money from licensing of the games not the console iteself.
 
Pretty much any Core 2 Duo rig with an X1950Pro or higher will give current consoles a run for their money. :)

If you decide to go the 2900/8800 route, which still falls in PS3 price territory, then you will find that it's nothing less than a curbstormp. :D
 
Thanks for some excellent ideas - but remember I've got to include a new copy of Vista in the total price!

Pretty wide range of opinions - I quite like the idea of saving pennies with the X1950 - there's a load of DX9 games I missed out on during my year away... but will the X1950 allow a playable/quality experience on DX10 games such as Crysis? Or should I spend double now and get the 'futureproof' card?

It seems the jury is split on [£180] the 2900/8800 vs. the cheaper [£76] X1950. I guess it comes down to Crysis....
 
danbroad said:
Thanks for some excellent ideas - but remember I've got to include a new copy of Vista in the total price!

Pretty wide range of opinions - I quite like the idea of saving pennies with the X1950 - there's a load of DX9 games I missed out on during my year away... but will the X1950 allow a playable/quality experience on DX10 games such as Crysis? Or should I spend double now and get the 'futureproof' card?

It seems the jury is split on [£180] the 2900/8800 vs. the cheaper [£76] X1950. I guess it comes down to Crysis....
Click to expand...
Crysis is pretty graphics hungry so I'd say go 2900/8800.
 
I'm not sure whether anything out there at the moment will play Crysis at high resolutions with max detail. Especially at DX10 level graphics.
 
Im currently playing the Crysis beta on 1400x900 at medium-high settings with my X1950pro 256mb. I am planning on upgrading that pretty much as soon as Nvidia's next load of cards come out though, so if you want something with a little more longevity go 2900/8800. The 1950 is fine for now, though.
 
danbroad said:
Thanks for some excellent ideas - but remember I've got to include a new copy of Vista in the total price!

Pretty wide range of opinions - I quite like the idea of saving pennies with the X1950 - there's a load of DX9 games I missed out on during my year away... but will the X1950 allow a playable/quality experience on DX10 games such as Crysis? Or should I spend double now and get the 'futureproof' card?

It seems the jury is split on [£180] the 2900/8800 vs. the cheaper [£76] X1950. I guess it comes down to Crysis....
Click to expand...

There is also no such thing as a futureproof card. I'd buy with playability NOW in mind. Forget about what it may or may not do in the future. An X1950 will serve you well NOW for not much outlay. By the time DX10 games are mainstream I doubt whether a 8800 class card could give you the full monty.

So its a question of budget. If you can afford it go for the 8800GTS but if you can't go for the X1950 and save your pennies for a future upgrade or for a better quality alternative component.
 
I think that it's X1950pro for now. £412 buys:

Intel core duo 1.8GHz
EVGA nforce MoBo
WD Caviar SATA HDD
Pioneer 18x18x DVD
Geil 2Gb 800MHz DDR2
Akasa Zen case
Huntkey 450W PSU
X1950Pro 512DDR3 1300MHz
Vista Home basic 64

You're right, after all in 6-12 months, the 8800 series may be sub-£100. For now, I'll bet I'm as pleased as punch gaming at 1280/1024 with this setup. It also agrees with my ethos of PS3 capability for PS3 money - coming in under budget. Then, when the card gets a boost, I can play all the games again!
 
The X1950 is not a DX10 cards, only the Nvidia 8 series or the ATI X2xxx series is. However, Crysis can run in DX9 as well as DX10, and there are very few (if any) solely DX10 games out in the next year.
 
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